Track is appearing, so I should start thinking about how I'm going to control the layout. I will admit that this is the part that I really like - electrics / electronics hold no fears for me, so I can enjoy creating a control system that does what I want it to. Thinking about control leaves a number of questions to ponder...

What do I want to do with the layout? Well, as I've said before, the intention is for it to become an exhibition layout, so the most important requirement of the control system is that it allows a good show to be put on. Initial thinking of the operational side suggests that at busy times there could be 3 trains moving on the layout at once - one on the branch, one just arriving, another just departing - so it needs to be able to cope with that. Simplicity of operation is a given - nothing worse than getting things wrong just when a crowd has gathered. The final one is obvious - it needs to be reliable, and easy to fix if things go wrong at an exhibition.

The obvious first decision is do I go for DCC, or stick with DC? If I'm honest, I've not had much experience of DCC, but I've always struggled to see the advantages, particularly when trying to intensively operate a small layout. Either way the route has to be set, and if you're doing that, you may as well switch in the right controller at the same time, rather than having to go and program in which loco you want to move, then discover you haven't set the route correctly. Plus, if I do start putting in automation, in DC it can be done with less extra electronics than in DCC, mostly due to controlling trains by altering the voltage on the tracks, rather than broadcasting commands to a particular loco. Added to that the cost of getting a decent system, and fitting chips in all the locos and DMUs, and I can't justify the switch.

I would like to be able to run the layout with a level of automation, along the lines of set the route, let the train run itself on / off scene, with the ability to start another train going as the first clears the points. However, doing that is going to take some time (not just to build, but to design and even get the requirements right), and I don't want to wait forever to get trains running, so I'll need a different control system to work with initially. I don't want to have to rewire the boards in order to change the control system so there needs to be some consideration of what is needed before starting the wiring.

I am a member of MERG (Model Electronic Railway Group), so will be using their kits and modules for the various bits of electronics. Rather than use a panel mounted CDU, I'll use PD3 point controllers, which are mounted close to the point, act as a CDU, but allows a normal toggle switch to be used on the panel. For the automated control, I'm likely to use the BC3 controllers to do the driving, as they are capable of doing automatic stops. I also want to be able to show on the control panel what